We investigate the impact of board and ownership structure on profitability of 74 commercial banks from four transition economies of South East Europe over the 2005-2010 period. We analyse this relation using Ordinary Least Squares regression analysis on an unbalanced panel data-set of 377 observations. We find negative and significant relationship between board size and bank profitability, while the proportion of independent directors on the board is negatively, but insignificantly related to bank profitability. Impact of ownership concentration on bank profitability is negative, but weak. We also find that privately held domestic banks outperform state-owned and foreign banks. Important factors influencing bank profitability in South East Europe are also bank size and bank capitalisation.

5S can be viewed as a system of workplace rules devised to create a safe and productive work environment and to provide efficient and effective realization of business tasks. Its implementation is expected to reduce defects, improve quality, increase safety and the morale of the employees, and improve employees' productivity. In the present paper, over the period of seven years, we investigate the case of a rubber goods manufacturer from Serbia which has implemented 5S in one of its subsidiaries. To assess the effects of the 5S implementation we use operational and financial performance indicators. Our results suggest that the implementation of 5S can contribute to performance of an organization in the short and medium term. In the case we analyze here, effects of 5S were not evident in longer term due to the influence of some external factors (increase in raw material prices and decrease in purchasing power of demand) and strong investment activity of the subsidiary. We argue that the performance of the subsidiary under the influence of these factors would be weaker if it did not implement 5S. In addition, subsidiary in our study implemented TDABC to make possible preparation of reports important for efficient decision making in the new business environment. This finding points to the importance of the management accounting system improvements after the continuous improvements implementation.

The aim of this paper is to determine the place and role of corporate governance and performance measures in the efforts of managers to maximize shareholder value, and the attitude of Serbian corporations toward these issues. The paper first analyses the importance of corporate governance and performance measures in the context of value-based management. Then, through the multiple case study, we investigate the attitude of seven Serbian corporations toward defining the general corporate objective, corporate governance, and performance measurement. Finally, we point out the factors and preconditions that determine corporate culture, objective definition, and performance measures used by Serbian corporations

This paper explores the attitudes of the preparers of financial statements in the emerging economy of Serbia towards International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Our research shows that preparers are mainly satisfied with the quality of IFRS and the environment for IFRS application in Serbia and that they generally support the process of global convergence of financial reporting standards. Nevertheless, we find that there is a need to improve the environment for IFRS application in Serbia, and we identify areas that financial reporting regulators in emerging economies should address when attempting to improve the environment for IFRS application. Our research also shows that perceived IFRS quality is dependent on the preparer's experience in applying IFRS and his or her perceptions of the environment in which IFRS are applied. Perceived IFRS quality and attitudes towards the compatibility between IFRS and the environment for application of IFRS affect the level of support for the global convergence of financial reporting standards.

PurposeThe purpose of the study is to investigate the association of earnings and cash flows with stock prices and returns, and the impact of regulatory changes on the value relevance of accounting numbers.Design/methodology/approachThe authors examine a sample of non-financial firms listed on the Belgrade Stock Exchange from 2005 to 2018 and use three regression models – price, return and differenced.FindingsThe authors find evidence that accounting earnings are more value relevant than cash flows. The authors also find negative relation of earnings changes with stock returns and argue that this is due to the lower persistence of negative earnings levels and changes. Finally, the authors find that the value relevance of accounting information in Serbia increases after the improvements in capital market regulation.Research limitations/implicationsGiven the empirical focus on a transition economy, the widespread applicability of the study is limited. The findings, however, call for more research on transition economies to better understand the functioning of capital markets and the way information from financial statements is incorporated into stock prices.Practical implicationsThe results imply that policymakers in transition economies should improve the accounting and capital market regulation to provide better investor protection and to improve the capital market conditions.Originality/valueThe authors add to knowledge about the value relevance of accounting information in emerging and transition economies. The results could be of interest to standard setters in their efforts to better understand and improve the quality of accounting information in emerging and transition economies.